Feed-water heater



s. STRONG. v Feed-WaterHater.

No. 226,939. Patented'April 27,1880.

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' UNITED STATES PATENT @EETQE.

GEORGE S. STRONG, ()F PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

FEED-WATER H EATER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 226,939, dated 'April 27, 1880.

Application filed October 10,1879.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, GEORGE S. STRONG, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Feed-Tater Heaters, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of feedwater heaters in which the water under pressure is brought into contact with steam-heated tubes in a chamber prior to being introduced into the boiler.

One object of my invention is to so combine a filter with a feed-water heater that the temperature of the water, after it enters the heating-chamber, should be increased before it reaches the filter; and another object of my invention is to return the scum and impurities which tend to rise in the heater to the bottom of the heating-chamber prior to being blown off from the same with the sediment.

Further features of my invention are too fully explained hereinafter to need preliminary explanation.

[n the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical section of my improved feed-water heater; Fig. 2, a sectional plan on the line 1 2 and Figs. 5 and 4, vertical sections, showing difl'erent modes of arranging the upper ends of the internal and external tubes.

A is the cylindrical shell or casing of the heater, and to the upper end of this casing is secured the detachable cone-shaped cover A, the lower end being secured to the base A Within the shell of the heater and above the base is a partition, D, and above the latter another partition, B, which, in the present instance, is made in the form of an inverted cone, the partitions and base being so arranged that there shall be an inlet-chamber, E, between the two partitions, and an outlet-chamber, F, between the partition D and base A Exhaust-steam is admitted to the chamber E through the pipe a, and, after taking the course described hereinafter, is discharged from the chamber F through the pipe I).

A central blow-offpassage, d, extends through both partitions and forms a communication between the heating-chamber W and the blowoff pipe (1, this passage and pipe having no communication with either of the chambers E or F.

Near the upper portion of the shell of the heater is a mass, G, of filtering materialcharcoal, for instance-which is confined between the upper plate, at, and lower plate, a, the latter resting on a ledge in the interior of the shell A.

A central rod, p, passes through both plates and through the filtering material, and has at the upper end an eye, to which, after the OOVGI A has been removed, suitable hoisting-tackle may be attached when the plates have to be removed from the shell of the heater with the filtering material for the purpose of cleansing or renewing the latter, the rod being provided at the lower end with a nut for bearingagainst the under side of the plate a and a collar or nut for bearing against the under side of the plate at when the said plates are raised.

A series of tubes, 20, pass through and are secured to the partitionB and communicate with the chamber E, the tubes extending upward through the filter and to within a short distance'from the upper end of the shell of the heater. Through each of these tubes 20 passes a smaller tube, a, the lower ends ofthese tubes being secured to the partition D and communicating with the chamber F, each inner tube extending upward to within a short distance from the top of the outer tube.

The manner in which the tubes are arranged at the top is shown in the enlarged sectional view, Fig. 3, where h represents a collar or sleeve shrunk on the upper end of the outer tube, to, and threaded internally for receiving the screw-plug i, which has webs j, for fitting in the upper end of the inner tube, on, the latter being thus maintained in a position concentric with the outer tube, while there is a free communication between the two tubes.

The sleeve it may, if desired, be dispensed with, and the plug 6 screwed directly into the threaded section of the outer tube, as shown in Fig. 4.

It will be seen that the steam admitted to the chamber E must pass upward through the annular space between each outer tube and inner tube and return through the latter before it can reach the outlet-chamber F, and hence that each outer tube must be effectually heated.

A pipe, H, extends from the upper end of the cone-shaped cover A to the chest I of an injector, feed-water under pressure being discharged into this chest through a nozzle, K, and thence through the throat of the injector into the heater, just above the partition B, the effect of this being twofold: first, the introduction of the desired feed water into the heater; and, second, an induced circulation of water from the top of the heater to the bottom of the heating-chamber W, for a purpose explained hereinafter.

The feed-water introduced into the heater must pass through the filtering material before it reaches the outlet-pipe t, communicating with the boiler, and the water must necessarily be heated by contact with the tubes before it reaches the filter. This is an important feature of my invention; for the water, owing to the disintegration by the heat of the foreign matter held in suspension, is in a much better condition for effective and rapid filtration than cold water. Even after the water has passed through the filtering material it contains more or less foreign matter, which has a tendency, in the first instance, to rise to the surface under the influence of heat,'and then to settle to the bottom of the vessel which contains the water. This scum is disposed of as fast as it rises by the action of the injector, which induces a constant circulation of water from the top of the heater and down through the pipe H to the bottom of the heating-chamber XV, the scum passing with the water down the said pipe and being deposited on the partition B with other sediment, which may be blown off through the passage d and pipe d from time to time, the said pipe (1 being furnished with a suitable blow-off cock.

I am aware that filtering apparatus has been heretofore combined with a feed-water heater; also that feed-water not under pressure has been permitted to pass with exhaust-steam into a chamber containing tubes prior to being withdrawn from said chamber and forced through the tubes and thence into the boiler; but in this case the temperature of the feedwater is not increased by contact with the tubes, whereas it is essential to my invention that the temperature of the water should increase as it rises toward the filter, so as to be in the best condition for being subjected to the filtering process.

I claim as my invention 1. A feed-water heater in which are combined the following elements, namely: first, a chamber containing steam-heated tubes; second, a filtering medium above the chamber; and, third, mechanism whereby the feed-water is forced into the lower portion of the said heating chamber and upward through the same and through the said filtering medium, all substantially as set forth.

2. The combination, in a feed-water heater, of a heating-chamber containing steam-heated tubes, a filtering-partition, and a chamber above the same, with a pipe forming a communication between the top of this upper chamber and the lower portion of the lower chamber, and with mechanism whereby a continuous circulation of water from the upper chamber to the lower chamber is maintained through the said pipe, substantially as described.

3. The combination, in a heater, of the pipe H, communicating with the top of the said heater, the injector-chest I, communicating with the said pipe and with the heating-chamber, and the nozzle K, communicating with the feed-pipe, all substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEO. S. STRONG.

Witnesses:

ALEXANDER PATTERSON, HARRY SMITH. 

